Please post your good experiences with Magical Express here!

[fairytalelover]

I have read more then my share of bad experiences with ME so I thought we could have a thread of JUST good experiences with them. This way as time goes by we can check in this thread to see if ME's services are hopefully improving. Also I need to hear the positive stuff prior to my June trip to lessen my stress and worry about things going wrong.

 

[Papillon]

Just got my luggage tags today!! I'm leaving on MOnday, so I was sweating a bit. Anyway, the info was all correct, and in time. I am very much looking forward to the ME, and I will post when I return.

 

[YetanotherMouseFan]

Just back today. Like many others, we never got our baggage tags. After speaking to CRO and DME to make sure they had our flight info, we trusted in the fates and got on the plane. When we arrived in Orlando, we were directed to the ME desk on Level 1 A, checked in with the desk, and were herded into a queue. Within 15 minutes of our arrival at the counter, we were on a DCL bus headed to POFQ. Our bags weren't waiting for us, but we didn't wait around for them, either. They were in the room when we got back from dinner at DD.

Yesterday morning, we received a tag on the door from DME, which showed our airline and flight number, but not the departure time! We were requested to call and give them the information, which I did, and lo and behold! it was MEARS that answered!
Anyway, we were picked up within 2 minutes of the time I was given, with only 1 stop at OKW (Where there was nobody waiting..did they give up?) and were at the airport within 30 minutes.

So, yes, it works. We were pleased with the service, especially considering it was the second day of operation, and would use it again in a heartbeat. I overheard one of the DME cast members saying they were just about overwhelmed by the response. I'm sure this explains a lot of the problems.

Just my .02.

 

[fairytalelover]

Any more "Good" experiences with Magical Express? We are leaving on June 20th and are hoping for smooth sailing by then.

 

[disneydebi]

We returned from our 5/20-5/25 trip...
used ME with no problems. Our luggage tags had arrived prior to departure, so that was good.

When we arrived at MCO, we were directed by the many "mickey handed" CM's where to go... no line at all at the welcome center (arrived about 2:30pm on a Friday). Got on the bus, and within a few minutes were on our way.

Checked in at CSR no problem, dumped our carry on bags in the room, and headed to the parks. When we came back in the evening, our bags were in the room as promised.

Return trip to airport, again, no problems. The bus that arrived was a Cruise line bus, and the bus driver was calling out for "Mear's to the airport" which i think confused a few people... but the CM's said it was the Magical Express bus. Oddly enough, another Bus (which was an actual Magical Express bus), pulled in to the resort to pick up guests, immediately as we were pulling out and proceeded to follow us to Pop Century which was our only stop before we headed out to MCO). We got to the airport in plenty of time for our flight (even given the HUGE check in line we had to stand in for Southwest).

All in all, it was a positive experience. I like that it was free, but I think next time I will look at a Town car again, as it's a bit quicker on the return trip (I get nervous about getting to the airport on time.), and the bus was full, with a few 6 year old girls wacking eachother with stuffed toys, which took away a little of the "magic". (mind you, i have my own 6 year old girl, so i know that's part of the game! when you travel to Disney!)

 

[fairytalelover]

Did they show videos on the bus?

 

[keddy]

1

 

[rsschneck]

We used ME for Round trip transfers. Wonderful! Easy and relatively fast. Obviously there is some delay because of different stops, etc. for free it was definately worth it. Once they start charging I will reevaluate the value.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

On the way home, we had a 4Pm flight and were scheduled on the 1:10 shuttle. We arrived at the ME station around around 11:30 to check our bags and check in for our flight. The lines were a little long, so we just got on the 12:10 shuttle

I'm confused.. your flight was 4pm and shuttle scheduled at 1:10 but you arrived 11:30pm and got on the 12:10 shuttle after checking in? So you sat there 4hrs before your flight?

*confused*

 

[CleveRocks]

I thought DME was great!

We traveled May 8 - 14, so I arrived on the 4th day of the service. I got in the long DME line, but there were 14 CMs working, so I was out of line in exactly 5 minutes. Waited 10 minutes in our bus queue, then waited 5 minutes on the bus before it pulled away. Including walking time, it was 25 minutes from first getting into DME check-in line to our bus pulling away.

The bus was new, had cushy upholstery, and had nice cool air conditioning. We watched a Welcome to Disney-type DVD on the way. My resort, CBR, was the first stop. We got there at 10:30 a.m. Got in DME line 9:37 a.m., got dropped at resort 10:30 a.m., less than one hour!

Our luggage arrived 3.5 hours later. No big deal to me. Whenever, wherever I travel I keep 24 hours worth of supplies in my carry-on just in case the airline loses or delays my luggage. When my luggage "magically" appeared in my room hours later, I wasn't pissed off waiting for it. Rather, I was in the pool with my kids having a great time at the beginning of my vacation. I'm amazed to read complaints from people who arrived at MCO at 10:00 p.m. and then were totally angry that they didn't have PJs or medication for their kids because it was in their checked luggage. A little planning goes a long way.

On the way back to MCO, our bus arrived at CBR right on schedule, the driver was friendly and helpful, and he loaded my luggage onto the bus (we flew a non-participating airline). The bus was empty when it arrived, three-quarters full when it left, and we made ZERO stops on the way to MCO. As we pulled into the airport, the driver asked us all to not get off the bus until he unloaded everyone's luggage, to make it an easier process for him and for all of us.

I'm totally satisfied with the experience!

-- Eric

 

[magicmommy]

Our ME experience was great. We planned and each brought a backpack with us knowing that it could be awhile before our luggage arrived. If you know that in advance you should be fine. We left our room about 1pm and did not arrive back until 11pm so I'm not sure how long it took for it to arrive.

 

[fairytalelover]

Well I am happy to hear all these great experiences with ME. We cant wait to use them on our honeymoon in 19 days !!

 

[kkana]

Anyone had any experience - positive - with flying in on Air Canada? also has anyone done the land and sea using ME?

 

[keddy]

1

 

[GoingtoDisney]

We just returned and had a good experience both ways....despite not getting our tags in time. The buses were very nice and my kids thought the floor looked like it had sparkles on it. Disney promo video both ways. Buses had bathrooms, which my kids all took advantage of. We had a couple of stops both ways before arriving at the POFQ so it took almost an hour to get from the airport to the hotel (plus we were the first ones on the bus so we had to wait for others to board), but all in all a good experience (and free!)

 

[Disneymomofsix]

We came back today. On the way there (on May 24th), we did not receive enough luggage tags for everyone in the party so we packed less bags than we might have (had twelve in our party but received luggage tags for 8). When we arrived in Orlando, luggage tags had come off some of the items (they were flimsy) so those with the big white hands advised us to pull those items off the baggage carousel and bring them onto the bus (we had gone to pull the stroller that my parents checked in at the curb instead of checking it at the gate so they had not put a ME tag on it). We were able to get to the bus quickly once we got the luggage. We made one stop at the French Quarter on the way to our hotel. Someone was on our bus that was going to GF so I assume the bus for the MK area was full, but they were dropped off after us. Something really funny - they showed a Universal movie on the way to the hotel . On the way back, they showed no movie. I asked because my kids were getting hyper, and the driver said that they only showed a movie on the way there. He did give some interesting facts about Orlando on the way back. Anyway, back to our trip there. We were able to check into our room immediately even though it was around 1 or 1:30, went to the food court, and our luggage was there when we got back to the room. I would definitely give it a thumbs up, especially since it was free. On the way back to the airport, we made two stops but people only got on at one, so we were back at the airport with more than two hours to spare. That was good since we had so much luggage, and our flight was overbooked.